The Landings Resort & Spa

We had heard a lot about this resort for quite some time, so it had been on our radar, and we were excited to visit. The resort is large and beautiful, but easy to get around as most of the buildings are clustered around the marina. We had a building that had a beautiful ocean view and was on the beach. And it was a quick seven minute walk to the lobby. It’s definitely a very serene environment. The beaches were lovely, clean with lots of chairs available. There are multiple pools on the property, but they are all relatively small. I would say they could accommodate 20 people or less. So if this property is missing anything, I would say a larger pool for more people to gather at. When we were there, it was not totally all-inclusive as this listing states, but breakfast was included. The breakfast: I would say the quality was mid. We had some large group dinners on the property and that food was quite good. We also ate at the restaurant on the beach. That was a great lunch. We found the schedule of the restaurants open for dinner quite confusing, and even the concierge was confused as they made reservations for us one night and when we went to the restaurant that evening it was closed. The groundskeepers work very hard and are very friendly! This was such a delight as I would see them every day watering or tending to the lush landscaping. However, the rest of the staff did not seem to be enjoying their jobs. They were either grumpy or reticent or downright rude. Several days we were in the lobby and went to the concierge or the front desk to ask a question, reserve a tennis court, ask for directions and they were pretty rude, surprisingly. I also found on several mornings that there was nobody working at the front desk before 8:30 in the morning. I would many mornings I would stop by the front desk on my way up to the gym and several times I found myself standing there, calling out for somebody to come to the front desk and nobody appeared. The gym is small but has lots of equipment. There are group exercises that are complementary and offered every day. I highly recommend the Pilates class. The instructor is extremely knowledgeable and very well trained, probably one of the best Pilates instructors I’ve ever met. The only downside is that there are several people from the area that come to the property for classes and many of them are often very late due to traffic. And the instructor seemed to wait for them to arrive before starting the class and this can cause the class to start between 15 and 20 minutes late, but still end at the same time. So the one hour classes are often only 40 minutes. Also, there were two instructors that never even showed up for the class and when I inquired at the front desk, I either waited some time for somebody to appear or was never able to inquire at all. When I did ask an employee, they seem to have no idea what I was talking about! And the gym is located right above the lobby. Again, no management around to supervise these employees, so why should they show up? They’re also does not seem to be any management around the property leading the staff. We had an incident on the first day that ended up being taken care of on our last day, but the staff was quite confused as how to handle it, and there did not seem to be anybody with the authority to make decision or amends, so we had to have our travel people intercede for us. Also, it looks like the property is in need of some upgrades. Many of the buildings need to be repainted, several the roofs look like they’re needing replacement. There was a large air-conditioning unit wrapped in plastic right outside our door the entire stay. While unsightly, the larger issue was the plastic flapping in the wind as we were trying to enjoy sitting on our front patio. When we checked into our room, we were told that we would have a Butler, but we did not meet them the first day. The next day, a very friendly woman introduced herself as our butler. But then we never saw her again. There seemed to be some confusion about who was to service our room. At one point, we asked for more water. It took four calls throughout the day to get water delivered to our room. Two of the times I was told our Butler was handling it. When I replied we don’t have a butler, the front desk had no idea what I was talking about and was very confused.Two days we asked for ice and never saw it. Lots of things slipping through the cracks! The rooms are lovely! I believe each room is either two or three bedrooms and at least 2 1/2 bathrooms. Our room also included a washer and dryer which was very convenient and helped us pack a lot less! There are also full kitchens with flatware, dishes, and cooking pans and utensils. I believe you can organize provisioning for your room, but there were some people in our group that did this and had a great trip, but the resort is over an hour boat ride from the airport and at least a two hour car ride from the airport. Was it worth it? I’m not sure! It was a very long day of travel. If I went back, I would probably stay someplace closer to the airport since there are many lovely resorts on the other side of the island. And I may even stay at a Caribbean island that is easier to get to, but if the landings could make some improvements, I could be convinced to return.

Absolutely gorgeous hotel, best beach and the pool is lovely. Don't miss the sunday live music at brunch and the meals are fantastic. The staff take pride in providing the best stay possible and we will return next time with the kids!

Having stayed at Sugar Beach before, words can't convey how disappointed we were when we left The Landings. We are not ungracious, demanding people. And appreciate not everything can always be perfect, but this was not an enjoyable stay for us. The view was great, the room was great, the food was fine (apart from breakfast). The Japanese restaurant was very good. And staff in the coffee shop were great. Check in was great, as were the people there. However, on the whole, it felt like many members of staff who worked in customer facing areas, just didn't want to be there. The quality of service was shocking. Of course, there are the odd few who are naturally lovely, but on the whole, we were left flabbergast at the lack of care, attention and even basic friendliness. Even some members of the water centre staff seemed as though they were doing us a favour. (We had the most pleasant exchanges with the gardeners and the cleaning staff! - Perhaps they should train those front of house!) In addition, the breakfast buffet is very low quality and felt like a 3 star all inclusive. Perhaps all this is because the resort feels more like clusters of self catering accomodation, with hotel services wrapped around what feels like a complex. We had no sight of a General Manager anywhere. We came away feeling as though the hotel has no leadership and very limited training in place. However, if you fancy St Lucia, we found the people outside this resort super friendly and we really enjoyed the time we went to places beyond the Hotel.

Staff very friendly. Beach Club dinner overpriced for a buffet. You get charged for water at dinner.

Lovely resort. Great for families. Huge rooms with washer & dryer & full kitchen. 3 on site restaurants & a coffee shop. Lovely beach. Smaller pools with hot tub offered throughout resort. Excellent staff. Nice spa. Plenty of excursions offered thru hotel. Nearby Rodney Bay offered grocery store, shopping and fantastic restaurants. Over 2 hour winding car ride from airport so consider a helicopter or boat.